Santorum's vote
enabling Halliburton to continue trading with Iran featured
in last month's article,
has sparked considerable feedback, including two editorials
in the Washington Times defending Santorum. The question was
raised again at the recent Casey-Santorum debate.

The prime sponsor of Senate legislation to close the sanctions loophole with Iran, Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), reacted to Santorum's falsehoods today.

"Rick Santorum has repeatedly refused to close the loophole in our sanctions law which allows the
Iranian Government to generate more revenue that they can pass on to terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah," said Senator Lautenberg.
"Rick Santorum tries to give the impression that he is tough on Iran, but when its time to stand up to powerful companies like Halliburton,
Rick Santorum stands down."

For several years, Senator Lautenberg has been working to close a loophole in U.S. sanctions law that allows U.S. companies to do business with Iran through foreign subsidiaries. One of the biggest violators of this loophole is Halliburton, the company run by Vice President Dick Cheney just prior to taking office in 2001.

During Monday's debate, under pressure from Casey, Santorum made several false statements about Halliburton's business with Iran:

RICK SANTORUM: "It is already illegal for Halliburton to do business in Iran."

Wrong!

A Halliburton subsidiary, Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., not only does business with Iran, but it also has a Tehran
office according to Money
Magazine.

RICK SANTORUM: ?It [Halliburton Products and Support, Ltd.] is not a Halliburton subsidiary."

Wrong, again!

In August 2004, CBS News? 60 Minutes revealed that Halliburton was using a subsidiary named ?Halliburton Products & Services Ltd." to do business with Iran. 60 Minutes went to the Cayman Islands, which is where the subsidiary is incorporated, and found that the company doesn't even have an office on the island.

Halliburton
workers in Pars, Iran. (NBC Nightly News, Mar. 7, 2005)

In addition, on March 7, 2005, NBC Nightly
News ran a story that showed video of Halliburton workers operating in an oil field in Pars,
Iran:

In May 2004, Senator Lautenberg offered an amendment on the Senate floor to close the loophole that allows foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business with Iran. Rick Santorum voted against the amendment to close the Iran Sanctions Loophole, and the amendment failed by one vote. Senator Lautenberg brought the issue to a vote two more times in the Senate, and Rick Santorum voted against it every time.
(S.2400,
S.2845,
S.1042)